Guide to vitamins and minerals

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Guide to Using Whole Food Vitamins and Minerals to Support Your Health By Dr. Ben Kim on March 01, 2008 What you don't know about vitamins and minerals may destroy your health. I don't make this statement lightly, as I have worked with enough people who have hurt their health with synthetic vitamin and mineral supplements to know that experiencing vitamin and mineral toxicity is far more common than you might think. Vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat-soluble vitamins, meaning that these vitamins can be stored in your fat tissues. Even if you are super lean, your body has

significant fat stores in and around all of your organs, as well as in the layer of fascia that lies between your muscles and skin. When consumed in excess, fat-soluble vitamins can cause a number of symptoms related to toxicity since they are easily stored in your body. Water-soluble vitamins like the entire spectrum of B vitamins and vitamin C are not stored in your fat tissues. Although your body is capable of excreting excess amounts of water-soluble vitamins from your body (mainly through your urine), water-soluble vitamins can still be toxic to your system and cause significant damage to your tissues if consumed in excess. Take, for example, vitamin B6. Some published studies indicate that taking large quantities of vitamin B6 (up to 75 mg per day) may alleviate symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome. The generally recommended daily allowance of vitamin B6 is 1.3 to 1.7 mg per day. While your body will work to eliminate extraneous amounts of

vitamin B6, if you regularly consume extremely large amounts of vitamin B6, you will almost certainly arrive at a day when your body will not be able to eliminate enough of the extraneous B6 to prevent B6-related toxicity and tissue damage. The same is true for other water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins; if regularly consumed in excess, vitamins and minerals can physically damage your cells. Fortunately, there's a simple way to avoid vitamin and mineral toxicity: it's to avoid synthetic nutritional supplements, and to focus on eating fresh, minimally processed foods. Whole foods that are found in nature contain only trace amounts of vitamins and minerals. This is why vitamins and minerals are called micronutrients - they exist in micro amounts in natural foods, and they are needed by your body in micro amounts. The trace amounts of vitamins and minerals that are found in minimally processed, natural foods are packaged together

with large quantities of macronutrients like carbohydrates, protein, and fat. Vitamins and minerals in whole plant foods are also bundled together with fiber. When you obtain your vitamins and minerals from whole foods, the carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber in whole foods fill you up and tell you to take a break from eating before you consume dangerous levels of vitamins and minerals. Whole foods contain much larger amounts of carbohydrates, protein, and fat than vitamins and minerals because carbohydrates, protein, and fat are the primary sources of fuel that you use to generate energy for all of your activities. Vitamins and minerals serve as enzymes and co-enzymes that allow your cells to metabolize the sugars, amino acids, and fatty acids found in carbohydrates, protein, and fat. If you've studied biochemistry, take some time to review the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex and why it is needed for your cells to synthesize energy (ATP) - this

will allow you to clearly see the important roles that vitamins and minerals play on a microscopic level in your second-to-second metabolism. The bottom line is this: the best and safest way to nourish your body with vitamins and minerals is to get them from whole, natural foods. While you can obtain significant quantities of the vitamins and minerals that you need from raw foods, to ensure optimal nourishment with vitamins and minerals, it doesn't hurt to include some cooked foods, broths, and soups in your diet, as cooking vegetables can make some vitamins and minerals more easily accessible. The best way to become deficient in vitamins and minerals is to eat foods that are highly processed. Highly processed foods that typically include large quantities of sugar, white flour, and cheap vegetable oils fill you up and give you the illusion that you have eaten enough

to satisfy your nutrient needs, even though they are sparse in nutrients. This is where the principle of nutrient-density comes in; a simple key to promoting nutritional excellence is to regularly eat foods that are nutrient-rich. This is another way of saying that you should mainly eat minimally processed whole foods like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, and if in line with your beliefs, clean animal foods like organic eggs, wild fish, and organically raised flesh meats. If your intake of fresh, whole foods is lacking at times, or if you find that the quality of produce that is available to you isn't as good as it can be, you can safely ensure optimal intake of vitamins and minerals by consuming nutritional supplements that are made with whole foods. Here are two key guidelines for choosing the best possible whole food supplements to ensure nutritional excellence: Look for supplements that

are made with 100% whole foods; if the ingredients label doesn't clearly list only whole foods, and if you see fractionated chemicals like "ascorbic acid" or "Vitamin C" without an accompanying listing of a whole food source, then you are likely looking at a supplement that contains synthetic nutrients. Look for supplements that come in dark glass jars. Dark glass jars (like amber-colored glass jars) are the best storage containers for preserving nutrient integrity because they are inert (chemically inactive), and they protect the essential fatty acids in whole foods. Plastic containers may allow oxygen to seep in over time, which can cause significant degradation of nutrient value. Most nutritional supplements are packaged in plastic bottles because plastic is cheap and doesn't break. Suzi List Owner health/ http://360./suziesgoats What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.

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